Photos of Silene virginica, Fire Pink, Ground-pink, Firepink, Virginia Catchfly, Wild pink

Silene virginica, Fire Pink, Ground-pink, Firepink, Virginia Catchfly, a member of the Caryophyllaceae, Pink Family. Native to eastern North America, this beautiful wildflower occurs in deciduous woods, along bluffs and moist slopes. According to Benjamin Smith Barton in his Essays Towards a Materia Medica of the United States (1801, p. 39 footnote), "From the information of my friend, the late learned Dr. James Greenway, of Virginia.—This species of Silene, or Catch-fly, grows abundantly, in many parts of the United-States, as in Pennsylvania, Virginia, &c. &c. Some of our Indians have told me, that it is a poisonous plant. This is highly probable, if it be a fact, that it is a very efficacious anthelmintic." Noted in other works to treat worms, and described as "uniformly insipid."

Email: sfoster@stevenfoster.com, or call +1-479-253-2629 for licensing terms and fees. All images © Copyright Steven Foster. Thank you!